MANILA -- Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro has been nominated to be the country's next Ombudsman.
In a two-page letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) dated May 3, retired SC Associate Justice Arturo Brion nominated de Castro, who is set to retire from the high court in October.
"Her long years in the prosecutorial service (almost 19 years) and in the Sandiganbayan (more than 10 years), not to mention her more than a decade of experience as an associate justice of the Supreme Court qualify her for the position of Ombudsman. Through all these years, she has served the government with competence, probity and integrity," Brion said in a two-page letter.
As proof of de Castro’s competence and integrity, Brion cited the numerous awards received by the retiring justice, including the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1998 for her service as one of the peace negotiators during the terms of the late former president Corazon Aquino and former president Fidel Ramos, and the Chief Justice Hilario Davide Reform Award for the reforms she implemented in the Sandiganbayan.
Prior to her appointment to the SC in December 2007, de Castro served as presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan and chaired the special division of the anti-graft court that convicted former president Joseph Estrada of plunder in 2007.
She was also elected president of the International Association of Women Judges and served a term from 2012 to 2014.
De Castro is a product of University of the Philippines College of Law. She joined the government in 1973 as law clerk and legal assistant in the SC. She then moved to the Department of Justice as a state counsel from 1978 to 1995 before her appointment to the Sandiganbayan.
“I hope that this nomination, shall merit the Honorable Council’s consideration approval, and the inclusion of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro as one of the Council’s nominees for appointment to the position of Ombudsman,” Brion said in his letter.
De Castro was among those who appeared before the congressional hearings and volunteered to prove that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s apparent non-submission of all her SALNs means she should not have been considered for the chief justice post.
Last April 10, the high court held oral arguments on the quo warranto petition filed by the OSG against Sereno, which sought to nullify her appointment over her alleged non-filing of her SALN.
De Castro accused Sereno of failing to religiously comply with Section 7 or Republic Act No. 3019 which requires every public officer, within 30 days after assuming office, and within the month of January of every other year thereafter, as well as upon the expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office a true detailed and sworn SALN, including a statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year.
Meanwhile, the JBC has extended the application period for those vying to replace Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales who will retire on July 26.
In an announcement, Clerk of Court and JBC ex officio secretary, Edgar Aricheta, said the application period for the position has been extended to May 15 from May 2.
Morales, 76, a retired SC Associate Justice, was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III as Ombudsman in 2011. She is the sister of lawyer Lucas Carpio Jr., husband of retired Court of Appeals (CA) associate justice, Agnes Reyes-Carpio.
Lucas and Agnes are the parents of lawyer Mans Carpio, husband of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
The JBC said all applications and recommendations (with conforme), with two complete sets (one original/certified true copy and one duplicate photocopied on long bond paper) of the documentary requirements “must all be received by the JBC not later than 4:30 p.m. of 15 May 2018.”
“The date of actual receipt by the JBC of the applications and complete documentary requirements shall be deemed as the date of filing,” the announcement read.
“Qualifications of applicants shall be reckoned from the said deadline,” it added. (With reports from Red Andador and Elijah Mendoza, OJT/PNA)
